KeysCHB
by helenofargos
Summary: The first part takes place after Sir Thursday.  Arthur tries to return home through the Seven Dials, but finds himself, instead, in a strange place where the puzzle pieces aren't quite fitting together. These people think he's a "demigod", whatever that is. No slash, b. t. dubz. Don't be fooled by the rating.  I left this hanging for a long time. I do apologize.
1. Chapter 1

"Suzy?" I called. After the attack on the Piper and his New Nithlings, I couldn't tell if she'd run off with the troops against her will or if she was somewhere around tile five-hundred/five-hundred.

"Suzy!" I called again.

"It is pointless calling Suzanna now." Dame Primus, now the first four parts of the Will of the Architect, had practically materialized behind me.

"But I need to know if she's okay."

Dame gave me her look, practically saying "you really don't understand".

"Arthur, you will have to wait until later. We will have Lady Friday to deal with soon enough and you need to be ready. Plus, things may be easier if you get to trying Sir Thu-"

"What is it with you and trying Sir Thursday, anyhow?!" I was on only a thread of my own sanity and was about to blow. I took a deep breath, something I'd gotten used to being able to do once more, and stared at Dame Primus. As much as I hate making eye contact with her, it's pretty impossible to ignore those power-radiating eyes.

"It is only just and happens to be straight out of the rules of the Army of the Architect. You will first need to-"

"I want to go home first," I interrupted her again.

"Arthur, you cannot go back to your home just now. You will need to take care of more…important business here first." Dame Primus was becoming more and more impatient it seemed.

I glared at her.

"All I need to do is make sure that all is well. I do not want to leave my home in shambles, if that happens to be the case."

Dame rolled her eyes and sighed.

"I will allow you only a small amount of time to go and come back. But you _must _make your visit as brief as possible."

"Thank you." I relaxed a bit. "All I really need is a little bit of time. How should I go, though?"

"First," Dame Primus started pacing back and forth in front of me, "you will need to hand the fourth key over to me. You don't want to run a risk in the case that you take too long in the Secondary Realms."

"I'll be very brief. Don't worry. I will be back shortly. Besides, who knows what is out there; I may need some sort of protection from the Morrow Days."

"There is _never_ any sense in reasoning with you, is there?" Dame stopped pacing and stared at me.

"You should take the Seven Dials. Taking the front door may be too risky." When she said that, I remembered Suzy mentioning that she had run into Saturday's Dusk in the Front Door to the House before the Lieutenant Keeper of the Door arrived to save the day.

"All right," I said, "let's get the elevator to the Lower House."

I had Thursday's Dawn call the elevator and Sneezer, Dame Primus, and I rode to the Lower House and made our way to the Seven Dials. Sneezer set the Dials and I stepped in.

"Now, hurry back once you're done, Arthur." Dame Primus called as my view of the Lower House disappeared in a flash of light.

When everything came back into perspective, however, I was definitely not back home.

In fact, I wasn't sure where I was at all.


	2. Chapter 2

I heard a sort of rush/roar behind me. The sea. I only knew what that sounded like because of my most recent trip to the Border Sea. I immediately started looking around and started to feel my chest tighten up. I was definitely in the Secondary Realms somewhere.

In order to slow the Asthma that was building up in my lungs, I calmed myself down a little bit. I sat down in the tan sand and lay down the sword--the fourth key--next to me. I heard footsteps come from behind me…coming towards me. Turning around, I saw something that made me grab thee sword again and jump to my feet, feeling my lungs fill with air at the touch of the key.

The thing behind me resembled a Fetcher, but it seemed closer to a Denizen of the House. It was more of a human form than a dog form. I readied the sword. The Fetcher growled, something I wasn't used to Fetchers doing, and lunged at me. I swung the sword at it and sliced into its chest. Of course, being made from Nothing, it would only be perturbed by this.

Suddenly, I got an idea.

I pointed the sword directly at it.

"Salt!" I shouted.

I guess that the fourth key had a more interesting effect on things than the others did because this command turned the whole Fetcher into a pillar of Fetcher-shaped salt.

That's when something grabbed me from behind.

You know, I hate it when things do that. It makes things so much harder.

Especially when I dropped the key.

I felt myself gasping for air and the thing tightening its grip on me. That's until I heard something slice through it and suddenly, the Nithling collapsed.

I happened to collapse too, from lack of air.

I grappled for the key, but it was just out of reach. This was it. Was I really going to die like this?

That's when someone kicked the sword toward me. I grabbed it and immediately felt my lungs fill with air. Looking up, I saw a boy who honestly reminded me of a non-bloated relative of Drowned Wednesday.

"You all right?" he asked, holding out a hand to help me get up.

"I…I think so. I'm not sure." I replied. I grabbed his hand and let him pull me up to my feet.

"I thought you weren't gonna make it there for a second."

I shook my head. _I thought that too_, I thought to myself.

Turning around, I saw the Nithling that tried to grab me. It was just like the one who I'd turned to salt.

"Do you know what that thing was?" asked the boy. "My name's Percy, by the way."

"Yeah." I looked at Percy, then shook my head and looked back at the Nithling. "It was a Fetcher."

"I've never heard of them before…not to mention that I haven't seen one before." Percy rubbed at the back of his neck.

"Hey, thanks for the help. Actually, thanks a _lot_ for the help," I said without turning to face him. "My name's Arthur."

"We need to get some place safer. Eh, right past the strawberry fields there." Percy was gesturing toward a small strawberry field to his right.

"All right." I started to turn to follow him when he started to walk toward the field. Then I realized that the Nithling hadn't turned to dust. I walked over to it, put my sword to its forehead, and said, quietly, "Return to Nothing."

The Fetcher dissolved and I turned around to follow Percy across the strawberry field. Percy was looking at me with a facial expression that looked a bit confused before it was replaced by a smile. We entered the field, not knowing what to expect next.


	3. Chapter 3

The smell of the strawberries was almost overwhelming. I wanted to pick one just to see if it tasted as juicy and delicious as it smelled. I fought the urge, though. If I could, I would possibly try to take the Improbable Stair to get out, but the Improbable Stair was, well, improbable and I wouldn't want to get trapped in any place for too long. That reminded me suddenly of the crocodile ring on my finger. I took a quick glance at it and was relieved when I saw that the gold squares hadn't filled up very much more, I sighed in relief.

"Here we go." Percy said. He pulled a pen cap out of his pocket and tapped it against his sword upon which a flash of light happened and suddenly he was capping a ballpoint pen rather than a sword. Apparently, I was not the only want with an odd weapon.

"Home sweet home." I looked up from his sword/pen and gasped. There was a big U-shape of cabins with a few others scattered around, a large ranch house-like thing was sitting up toward a large hill where there was a tall pine tree, and so many other amazing sites that I had to blink a few times to make sure that I was looking straight. When Percy wasn't looking, I looked at the place out of the corner of my eye, but there was nothing different.

"Home?" I asked.

"Yeah," he smiled bigger, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."

* * *

"This is the Big House," Percy said as we walked toward the ranch house.

I looked the building over. If I had to get out quickly, there were plenty of steps and squiggle marks that looked like steps enough…

"What does it mean, Camp _Half-Blood_?" I said, snapping myself back into reality.

"Have you heard of Greek and Roman Myths?" Percy raised an eyebrow as he said this as if he expected me to know already. I caught a glimpse of his sea-green eyes that seemed to be made of the ocean itself.

"Ah, yeah. Just a bit though."

"Well," he continued, "I'm only half human."

Obviously, I looked confused enough.

"What's the other half, then?"

"Can you guess?" he asked right before we stepped up onto the porch of the Big House.

On the porch, there was a table with two people around it. One of them was slouched over his hand of seven cards that he was holding, wearing a tiger-striped tee-shirt and shorts.

The other person…well, now that I think of it, wasn't really a person. He had the torso, head, and arms of a human but the hindquarters of a stallion. A centaur.

The centaur looked up first.

"So," he said, "this was all of the commotion?" He had a bit of amusement in his eyes.

"Yeah," Percy responded, "this is Arthur."

"Arthur. Just Arthur? Or…"

"Arthur Penhaligon," I interrupted.

"Well, then," the centaur shifted his hooves, "I'm Chiron. Camp Head here at Camp Half-Blood."

I muttered, "Glad to be back somewhere where the titles are shorter."

Chiron laughed at that.

"And what might your title be if they are all long where you come from?"

I sighed. I guess I brought this upon myself. I shook my head as if to dismiss the thought.

"No really. I'm curious." At this comment from Chiron, the other man looked up at me. I felt a strong surge of power emitting from him and stumbled back a few steps.

"Hah," the man said, "you know power when you see it, do ya?"

I shook my head to clear a daze that had set in.

"Arthur." Chiron put his cards face down on the table. "This is Mr. D."

I acknowledged Mr. D with my hand that wasn't holding the fourth key.

Mr. D eyed the key/sword with his purple eyes.

"I see we don't have to provide one of them for ya." He jutted his thumb in the direction of the key.

"Yes." Chiron furrowed his brow. "Do tell us what went on out by the beach."

Percy gave the entire story, even mentioning me listing these creatures as Fetchers.

"Well," Mr. D said, "you might as well take 'im away to cabin 11."

"What?" I asked.

"Hermes cabin," Percy explained simply. "You stay there until you're claimed by a god."

"I think I'm being left out of something."

Percy patted my shoulder and smiled.

"You're a demigod, Arthur."


	4. Chapter 4

"What?"

"You're a demigod," Percy explained, "half human, and half god."

"No I'm not."

"Well, then, how'd you fend off that Fetcher thing?"

"I really shouldn't tell you."

"Yes you should."

I frowned and shook my head. "You wouldn't get it, that's all."

"Okay, you can tell me later then." Percy smiled in triumph.

"So," I said, as we started walking in the direction of cabin 11, "what makes you think that I'm a demigod?"

"You fended off the Fetcher," he listed, "you _saw_ the Fetcher, you made it past the boundaries of the camp without getting harmed, you can sense power, need I go on?"

I sighed and stopped walking. Fingering around at the Fourth Key, I felt it turn into a baton, which it likes to be when I hold it. Percy stared at it.

"You nervous?" asked Percy.

"Hm?"

"You haven't let go of that thing since I kicked it back to you on the beach."

This was where I realized that I really couldn't keep from telling Percy anything about…my recent experiences. I hated having to tell people about all of the crazy stuff and the House and the heir stuff.

"My full out title," I started, "Chiron wanted to know that. It's Lord Arthur Penhaligon, Rightful Heir to the House, the Keys of the Kingdom and the Architect, Master of the Lower House, Lord of the Far Reaches, Duke of the Border Sea, Overlord of the Great Maze, Commander in Chief of the Glorious Army of the Architect, and Rightful Master of the Middle House and Ruler of the Upper House."

Percy whistled.

"You meant it when you said it was one heck of a title."

"Yeah."

"So," Percy stared at me, "you're what?"

"Not a demigod," I said simply and continued to the cabin.

Percy sighed behind me just as we arrived at cabin 11. I turned around to face him.

"Look, I need to get back to"--I hesitated--"my home. I can't waste too much time."

"You can spare a bit of time, can't you?" Percy asked, "Plus, you haven't mentioned a reason for your death grip on that baton thing."

I met his sea green eyes and said, "The reason for that is simple enough. I have serious asthma and if I let go of it _now_ I'll have an attack. It's a…I guess you could call it a magical item. It holds the power to the Great Maze of the House, not that you would know about that, not to offend, and I have a death grip on it because I really don't feel safe without it for a little while."

He remained quiet for a moment.

"So, you'll still need to stay here for a short bit--to rest up at least."

There was no working around this guy. So I sighed and nodded. He took me into cabin 11 where it was totally old looking and unorganized, so much so that it reminded me of the Lower House.

Percy showed me to an empty bunk.

"Just follow the rest of the group. They should tell you the basics of Camp," He said just before leaving.

I nodded in reply and flopped down on the cot on the bunk. Immediately afterward, I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey," I heard a faint voice say, "wake up. You're gonna miss dinner."

Opening my eyes, I saw someone standing right next to me, nudging me in my shoulder. Drowsily, I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

The guy standing next to me had curly brown hair and tan skin. He was tall, too. Not unlike most people I hung out with those days, only a normal tall as opposed to a seven-foot-tall sort of tall.

I stood up and rubbed my eyes, the Fourth Key still in my hand.

"I'm Travis." The guy held out his hand. "Son of Hermes."

"Ah," I said, "and I'm Arthur Penhaligon." I shook his hand.

"You gonna come to dinner?" he smiled in a crooked sort of way.

"I guess."

I got up and followed Travis to dinner. Apparently, he had a twin brother named Connor who was just a bit taller than him, but that's the only difference between the two of them.

When we got to the dinning hall, I was surprised to see that it was pretty much an open-roofed Greek mini-building.

"Wait," I asked, suddenly curious, "what do you do when it rains?"

Connor snickered.

"It doesn't always rain here."

I decided not to ask him to elaborate.

We sat down at the table I later new as the "Hermes table". At this table, there were a whole lot of people, boys and girls of all ages it seemed. They all had the same features, upturned eyebrows and a devious look in their eyes. I put my hand on the Fourth Key to make sure it was there, even though anyone who touched it other than me would…well, let's just say the results would not be pleasant.

I sat down between Connor and Travis and immediately became happy to be at their table. They cracked hilarious jokes and told of pranks and tricks that they'd pulled and I laughed nonstop.

Chiron stomped one of his hooves to get attention.

"Enjoy." He smiled.

Just then, tons of girls came _right out of_ the trees in the forest and brought platters of delicious looking food to the tables. Only then did I realize that I was starving.

As I was about to start eating, everyone got up and walked over to a small campfire. As they walked past it, they dropped some piece of food into the fire.

"What...?"

Travis looked at me and smiled great big.

"It's an offering to the gods."

I didn't know how to reply to that. So, I followed everyone else's lead. I picked a nice looking orange slice off of my plate and dropped it in the fire.

"To the Architect." I wasn't about to bless gods that might not exist. But when I smelled the fire after I dropped the orange slice in, I was amazed. It smelled just like the old paper in the Lower House, the smell that Suzy was covered in from her old days in the ink filler business, and smell of my mother popping something in the microwave before heading out to work.

Pulling myself away from the fire, I headed back over to the Hermes table where I ate and laughed until dinner was over. Before we went to the amphitheater for a sing-along, Chiron called out to all of us not to forget that there was going to be a game of capture the flag the next evening.

I fell asleep that night with my hand wrapped around the Fourth Key, and had a very restful sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Percy's POV

I had the strangest dream that night. Well, I guess I can't really say the _strangest_ dream, but it was pretty weird.

My dream started with me walking through this hallway. None of the rooms on either side of the hall had anything in them. No telephones, no talking, no rustling of paper, no scratching of pens...it was eerily silent. I finally came upon one door that was somewhat ajar. I peeked through the small amount that was open, and saw something that made me gasp.

It was Arthur Penhaligon, the new kid, sitting on a throne with a full court of people in front of him. As I watched, Arthur turned the alligator-shaped ring on his hand very slowly. He flinched as he turned it all of the way around. He was tall, dressed in a uniform of some sort, and it looked awful to see his now handsome complexion distort to such a pained look. Arthur sighed and looked out and above the crowd of people to meet my eye through the crack in the door and sighed.

He mouthed something then. _It's too late for me._

I woke up with a start.

"I have to tell Chiron." I muttered. Jumping out of bed, I got dressed in my usual jeans and camp tee-shirt and jogged out to the Big House.

As usual, Chiron and Mr. D were playing pinochle on the front porch of the Big House. Sometimes I wander if they're just waiting for one of us demigods to run up to them telling them something important or odd.

Chiron looked up and saw me first.

"Ah, Percy!" he called out. "Just in time for a game of pinochle!"

"That's not what I came to talk about, and I've also got to get to the sword fighting arena, but maybe some other time." I reached the porch and hopped up onto it.

"I had a weird dream I want to tell you about."

Arthur's POV

I woke from a restful and well deserved sleep. I hadn't had that much rest since I was in the hospital after defeating Sir Tuesday, and even that wasn't very restful.

I got up and out of my bunk to stretch and realized that I'd been stupid.

I had slept through the night.

Not only that, but I still had no idea how my family was, how Leaf was, or even how Suzy and the others were.

I ran out the door and realized that leaving would be awkward right now. If someone saw me running away like that, it wouldn't look right.

Sighing, I went up to the Big House to ask Chiron what I should do. I made my way up there, but I overheard Percy talking to Chiron. Mr. D was obviously trying to ignore them, as seemed usual for him.

"But it was Arthur-" I froze when I heard my name.

"He's a new camper. Having dreams about him wouldn't be unusual. Especially for a demigod such as yourself." That was Chiron's voice.

"But this one wasn't like the dreams I usually have! Even about new campers! I swear!"

"Ssh." Chiron shushed him, "Percy, think about it. It may be some sort of sign. If I think of something before you do, I'll tell you right away."

I decided then to go ahead and talk to Chiron. So I walked up the hill to the porch. They lowered their voices as I approached. Eventually Percy looked a bit puzzled and walked toward the sword fighting arena.

Chiron smiled at me as I walked up the steps to the porch.

"Hello, Arthur," he said, "I'd guess that you're coming up here to ask what to do with yourself for today?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"Well, I think we'll have you...no, the training video shouldn't be necessary...ah, I can get one of our campers to show you around," Chiron decided.

Mr. D smacked his cards down on the table and smiled great big.

Chiron frowned and put down his lesser hand of cards. Mr. D chuckled and wrote something down on a pad of paper.

I sighed.

"You really have it set that I'm a demigod?" I said to Chiron.

"I'm sorry, Arthur." He looked down at me from his high mount. "You are a demigod whether you really wish to be or not."

"I guess," I said, looking at my feet, "I never really knew my parents long enough to know much about them."

Mr. D looked at me funny and smiled a bit.

"You don't believe in the gods, do you boy?" he said, which startled me.

"Well, not that anything makes much sense to me these days, but no. Not really." I looked up at him.

"Tell me then. What _do _you believe?"

"I..." I didn't know what to say to that. I probably looked and sounded really stupid then.

"Do you believe in anything?" Chiron asked me.

"Yeah. I do."

"What then?" Mr. D countered.

"I can't tell you"

"Why not?"

"I'll...no one would understand."

"You won't sound stupid or anything, just tell me."

"No. I don't..." I stopped myself from going on.

I sighed and just decided to explain it to them whether they understood or not.

I explained to them the whole concept of the House and the Architect. Leaving out, of course, the Will and the Rightful Heir parts. When I was finished, Mr. D looked utterly confused by this; Chiron looked like he was in deep thought.

"I may have to look into this," Chiron eventually said, "I have honestly never heard of this belief." I was tempted to say _but it's the truth!_ but I held my tongue.

"In the meantime," he continued, "You need to be training and preparing for tonight's game of capture the flag." Chiron smiled and winked at me.

I ran back down the hill, still thankful that I could do so without suffocating. Nearing the bottom of the hill, I heard a pair of feet running up behind me. I whirred around and looked at my pursuer.

She was tall, blonde, and had a good tan. I had to lean my head back just a smidge to see her face. She had a small smile on and looked at me quizzically with stormy-grey eyes.

"Hey," she said. "Arthur, right?"

I nodded.

"I'm Annabeth. Chiron told me to show you around a bit...it's usually helpful to know where everything is around here."

"Okay, sounds good," I said, mentally agreeing with her.

"Come on, let's take a look around."

So, we walked around, her pointing out all the different cabins and explaining to me why there was lava pouring down the rock climbing wall. Then I thought of a question while we walked back toward the creek and the strawberry fields.

"Hey, Annabeth?" I asked. "What's the big deal about capture the flag? Everyone seems so worked up about it."

She smiled (sort of devilishly) and said, "You'll just have to find out tonight."

I sighed in defeat.

We walked back to the Hermes cabin just in time for training. I headed out with the rest of the group to the swordplay arena.

I started to get worried right about the time I was finished putting my armor on. I'd only sword-fought a couple of times in my life. Once when the pirate, Feverfew, had attempted to cut off my head and one other time, much more recently, when I'd defeated Sir Thursday. I was afraid I'd be a nervous wreck in front of all of these tough demigod kids.

I was extremely relieved, however, when our instructor came out and was none other than Percy. He started to talk about the basics of sword-fighting to brief the rest of the cabin's members and inform me.

He demonstrated the basic technique and had us pair up with someone out of the group. Everyone teamed up and I was left alone.

"I'll work with you, then, Arthur." Percy smiled and patted me on the shoulder. As I walked past other pairs of friends, a few mouthed "good luck" to me. I took this as a bad sign, but kept moving.

_Just gotta work my way through it, I guess,_ I though to myself. _I might as well get my humiliation over with._


	7. Chapter 7

"You look sorta shaky, you all right?" Percy asked in an amused tone as we got to an open space.

"Hah," I said, "just taking it all in, I guess."

"I bet," he replied.

We got started with him showed me how to do things, again, with an invisible partner instead of me.

"Now, you wanna try?"

I took a deep breath and nodded.

"Ready?"

"Yup."

Percy made the first strike, and I blocked it. It seemed like my instincts were sort of kicking in like they did when I was in the Glorious Army of the Architect. Eventually, he got in close enough to disarm Percy and did so without a second's thought. Next thing I knew, his celestial bronze sword was on the ground and the blade of the Fourth Key was pointed right at his chest.

"Yield!" he said, exhaustedly.

I lowered my blade and he picked his up.

"That was great! You show me that again!" Percy's smile was absolutely brilliant with excitement.

He was obviously going easy on me the first time because it took longer to get to that last shot the second time. We'd both gotten close enough to make the move, so we both had...at the same time. He had his blade pointed at my neck and mine was pointed at his chest. We both were out of breath when I yelled, "Yield!"

There was silence for a second as we lowered our swords. I noticed, then, that everyone else had stopped to watch us.

Percy mouthed, "Wow" and looked at me in surprise.

"Well," I said, just to break the silence, "That was pretty awesome."

Percy smiled again.

"You got that right."

He turned to everyone else.

"Thanks for watching, we'll be here all day." And he dismissed the group back to fighting.

I let out a long breath and looked up to meet Percy's eyes.

"All I can say," he exhaled, "is that I'm glad you're on my team for capture the flag."

After dinner that night, we all got suited up in armor and armed ourselves with weapons (Chiron mentioned something about magical weapons or something...I figured that included the Fourth Key).

We all got to our positions and received helmets with blue plumes on the top...or our team did anyway.

I was set near the flag on guard. Apparently, I was supposed to stay hidden unless the other team got super close to it. If I was wearing armor, I figured I didn't want to be the idiot who stood out in the middle of a clearing as if to say "Here I am! There's the flag! I'm a human target!"

I hid right behind a bush near the flag so that I could come charging out of it if anyone tried to grab it. I was small enough to do that, thankfully.

A horn blew off near the creek signaling the start of the game. I got excited, this was the first game of capture the flag that I had a chance to play without suffocating from my severe asthma...that is, if I didn't drop the Fourth Key.

I waited for a long time behind the bush. When I say a long time, I mean a _long_ time. I must have waited about a half an hour before something actually caught my attention near the edge of the little area I was in.

It was a person with a helmet with a red plume on top rather than a blue one like mine. She had red hair that was pulled back and a lethal-looking knife in her hand. She looked around a bit, as if to scout out where the flag was. Eventually, she spotted it and scanned the ground for any traps before walking forward to grab the flag. By this time, I'd stood up and started charging over (without screaming something silly like "aaaaaaarrrrgh!!!"). She saw me silently approach from the corner of her eye and lashed out with her blade, but I was too fast. I parried, ducked, and rolled as she sliced again. The girl grunted with frustration and kept at it while I almost automatically kept dodging and lunging.

After a while, she started to get short of breath. Apparently, I was wearing her out. I took that as my advantage and disarmed her smoothly and properly. She looked amazed that she'd been defeated by something as puny and scrawny as me.

"Get outta here, punk," said a voice behind me, "Before I take care of you myself."

I whirled around, not before stepping my boot on the hilt of the redhead's knife so she couldn't get me with my back turned.

A few inches in front of me was a tall, well built, girl with brown hair that fell all around her face. She was also wearing a red-plumed helmet. The spear that was slung across her back made a crackling noise that was oddly familiar.

_Electricity,_ I thought, _The stupid spear's electric!_

The girl gave a quiet, little laugh before drawing it and pointing it against my chest. I felt a tingle run through my body as a small, electric current went through my body.

"You can run now," she said.

"Why should I?" I replied.

Apparently she didn't get this reply too often because her face looked confused for a second before turning it back into a sneer.

"You should be smarter than to mess with a daughter of Ares," she said, "It'll get ya maimed."

I swallowed hard.

"No maiming allowed, however. You're a bit outta luck." I retorted a bit too smartly.

"You wanna get run through with a spear punk?" she snarled.

"Not particularly."

"Then why don't ya move out of the way of the flag?"

"I don't give up that easily." I replied simply.

She smiled.

"Then you should be loads of fun."

The girl shoved her spear forward and I leaned back and whacked at it with the flat part of my sword. When she swung it at me again, I ducked down and grabbed the redhead's knife off of the ground. I jumped out of the way just in time to miss another lunge from the electric spear and its wielder. I swung the Fourth Key around so that the side of her helmet got full impact from the flat side.

Suddenly, she looked rattled and startled. She stumbled before lashing out again with the electric spear.

A few more ducks, dodges, parries, and stabs occurred between the two of us before I ran into something hard behind me.

A Tree.

I'd run into a freaking tree.

Bracing myself for impact, I lifted the blade up to shield my face. The girl knocked it out of my hand with her spear and pointed the tip at me.

"Now," she said triumphantly, "you gonna let me to the flag?"

"Wasn't planning on it," I said, a sudden idea coming into my head.

She snarled and swung her fist that wasn't holding the electric spear at my head. I ducked down and grabbed the Fourth Key off of the ground in time to hear the girl growl with frustration as her hand hit the tree's rough bark.

Just then, her leg hit me square in the chest and I fell down. She started to run to grab the flag, and did. The girl ran out of the clearing, not to mention me running right behind her. She got about 100 yards from the creek before I got a smart idea. I pointed the Fourth Key, now a baton, at her and yelled, "Halt!"

The girl froze mid-step. I walked down to examine my work. She had a look of surprise written on her face again, only this time that was frozen too.

I gingerly plucked the flag from her hand.

"Thank you for returning that." I gave her a small wicked grin and walked off, back to the place where the flag was supposed to be. Just as I started to enter the underbrush once more, I heard someone shout my name. I turned around in time to see Annabeth running toward the river with the other team's flag.

"Arthur!" she yelled. "Catch!"

She threw the flag up and over the creek where I ran and caught it. Cheering erupted on our side of the creek. I turned to look at the girl I froze, and so did the majority of everyone else. A few started laughing, mostly from the Hermes cabin, and eventually someone said something about me doing that and the next thing I knew, Connor and Travis were patting me on the shoulder congratulating me on freezing Clarisse up like that.

I decided not to embarrass Clarisse much longer, so I walked over, still holding both flags, and touched her arm with the Fourth Key.

"Carry on, now," I commanded.

Clarisse was animated again.

She looked up and snarled at me.

"You'll pay for that you jerk face."

I sort of smiled at that. It was extremely likely that I would.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning, I woke with a start. I couldn't believe the sleep I'd had after capture the flag.

It had been horrible.

I had a dream in which I was standing around in a forest. Apparently, my dream self knew where I was, but in reality, I just couldn't remember.

There was a kid who was dressed in an aviator's jacket, a black t-shirt, and torn-up jeans. He stumbled into the clearing, coming right out of the shadows. He looked up and saw me.

Smiling, the boy walked over to me and introduced himself.

"I'm Nico," he said with a ghost of a smile. "King of the ghosts."

I shook his hand.

"And I'm Arthur...Lord Arthur Penhaligon."

The boy whistled in amusement.

"So, you're used to attention, eh?" The Ghost King laughed quietly and sort of creepily. The kid couldn't have been much older than I was.

"You have _no_ idea," I muttered.

"I might."

I smiled at him, hoping for some sympathy. His eyes said it all.

"Arthur?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"Uh, can I show you something?"

I looked at him, sizing him up, when I realized that, not only did I have the Fourth Key, but the others I had claimed too.

"Got quite an array there, don't you?" Nico asked me, gesturing to the Keys.

"Ah, heh, yeah. I guess so."

Nico smiled and continued to walk deeper into the forest. We arrived in a patch of moonlight and suddenly, Nico turned around.

"Hey," he said, "can you tell Percy and Annabeth and them all that I'm okay?"

I looked at him again.

"Ah, sure."

He smiled at me in approval and kept walking.

"Where exactly are we going?" I asked after a few minutes.

The Ghost King turned around to face me...but suddenly, he wasn't The Ghost King anymore. He had become taller, paler, his hair had changed color, and he...well, he didn't look quite alright.

"Wha-" I stammered in surprise.

"Shh." The boy quieted me.

"I'm Luke," he continued softly.

"But what happened to Nico?"

Luke chuckled, a bit creepier than Nico's.

"He's not really here right now," explained Luke. "It was a cover. He was delivering a message to you, but I took over his line...being the son of the god of messengers, I can do that."

"Your father's Hermes?"

"Yes." The boy had a bitter tang to his words.

"At least _you_ know your parents," I said disappointedly. "I knew them for only a little while. They were killed by an outbreak of influenza."

Luke was silent for a moment. Then he gave a slight laugh.

"So, not a demigod?"

I looked up at him from my staring contest with the ground.

"I...no, I'm not sure."

His face was in the moonlight, suddenly. That's the first time I saw his face clearly. He had golden-blonde hair to go with golden irises and a horrible scar across one side of his face. I shook my head and resumed dwelling upon the current issue.

"The only signs I've gotten," I whispered, "were smelling my favorite things in that fire...and being let past the borders of camp."

Luke put his hand on my shoulder.

"You hang in there, all right? And if things don't work out, you can always Iris message me." He winked at me.

After that, he put something round, flat, and smooth in my hand, and closed it.

"Create some sort of rainbow, mist works best, and throw this into it while saying 'Oh goddess, accept my offering.' Then, if she accepts, tell her to show you Luke Castellan...location doesn't hurt if you know it, too."

I looked down at the thing now in my hand. I recognized it immediately as some sort of currency, and very old currency at that. On it, it said "one golden drachma".

Luke leaned in to whisper in my ear.

"If you ever just decide you need to talk to someone, I'm open. I'm sure people at your camp just...wouldn't understand, am I correct?" He looked into my eyes as if he were trying to look into my soul, and I had to suppress a shudder. His eyes were piercing and cold. Yet, I felt like I could maybe accept his offer for a moment.

Then, Luke turned into some sort of green dust and was swept away in a gust of wind.

I had woken up just about then and couldn't get back to sleep for another few hours. My backwards watch was sometimes handy, but sometimes just a pain.

I fell back asleep after that and fell into a dream where Dame Primus was chasing me with some sort of giant shoe and screaming "Let the Will be done!" at the top of her lungs. That woke me up and kept me up for another hour.

After falling back asleep [again], I dreamt that the Architect was standing in the middle of a throne room. She pointed her hand in several different directions where there were gathering globs of Nothing gathering. Each of them turned into sort of chaotic, disfigured shapes that looked somewhat human.

The Architect turned to one in particular. Her name was Chaos. The Architect granted her a child. The Architect explained to Chaos that soon she would have a child and name it Gaea. Gaea would later create a man for herself out of Nothing (much like the Architect did herself) and they would have many children who would then have children themselves. These creatures would be called the Titans and the Gods. They would tend to the Western Civilization in the Secondary Realm called Earth. The Architect stood up once more and set the creatures free to reign until Chaos had her child.

That was when I woke up for the last time before I finally decided to get out of bed and get my breakfast. Soon after breakfast, it was time for sword training where Percy worked me harder than I ever thought he would to a mere beginner. Soon after, there was lunch, canoe racing, and arts and crafts. I excelled at my post-lunch classes (I assumed) from my recent trip to the Border Sea and my ability to make things from Nothing. The councilors were intrigued by the way I did things. I knew that they were just trying to guess who my godly parent was.

After dinner, Apollo cabin led a sing-along by the campfire, which calmed me down. Music always does that to me.

Then, we had free roam for about an hour. I walked out to the creek and just sat down next to it and stared at my reflection. I was confused, frustrated, irritated, worried, tired, sad, excited, and many other emotions all at once. Looking at my reflection in the water only made me think about all of the things that were different about me after becoming the Rightful Heir and all of that. I had much more perfect hair, my face held a perfect complexion, my teeth were much healthier looking than they had before, and...

I held my breath as I looked down at the crocodile ring.

Sighing a relief, I realized that the gold hadn't moved much at all. In truth, it had moved, but just so much that not even I could notice easily.

I lay back in the grass and relaxed for a few minutes. The breeze rushed over me, streaming the smell of strawberries from the fields. Suddenly, I heard something come hurtling down the hill. I jumped onto my feet just in time to dodge the incoming person...well, maybe not just in time.

The person, I quickly recognized, was Clarisse, daughter of Ares.

She reached back and grabbed me around the shoulders and neck and held me in a headlock of sorts. Clarisse squeezed gradually tighter and then, abruptly, let go. I plummeted to the ground, immediately jumping back up and backing away a few paces.

"You see what I mean, punk?" she jibed. "No one messes with a kid of Ares! _No one_!" Clarisse lunged at me and struck me in the chest. It hurt, but not as much as a normal mortal would hurt...or my old self for that matter.

"I didn't mean to, really!" I explained. "I was just defending the flag!"

She made sort of a "humph" noise at that.

"It sure didn't look like that." Clarisse swung her fist at me again, but I saw it coming. I grabbed her forearm and twisted it behind her back.

"Wha-" She looked surprised again. It looked like she was sort of amazed that I could do something like that. I was confused myself; I did nothing very unusual.

"How did you..." she stammered as I dropped her arm. She rubbed her forearm that now had red finger marks from me.

"How did I what?" I retorted. "How did I defend myself? Is that what you're asking?"

She smiled grimly and shook her head.

"You went, like, super fast."

I raised an eyebrow at that.

"Really?"

She looked at me and laughed.

"You don't even know your own abilities, do you?"

That sort of ticked me off, but I calmed as I realized that it was almost completely true.

"I...I don't know." I sighed and spread my arms out to my sides in submission.

"Go ahead," I said, "pummel me if you want, if it makes you feel any better. I've got better things to do." I stood there, closed my eyes, and waited.

After a few seconds of silence, I opened my eyes to see what she thought of my reply. Honestly, I thought even a kid of Ares would do something like injure me after I did that.

Clarisse shook her head.

"You're a scrawny thing. I'd snap you like a twig."

It was my turn to laugh a little.

"'Snap me like a twig'? I could see you try."

Her mouth pulled back in an irritated snarl. Her fists tightened. I saw her blush a little.

"I can hurt you," she said. "I can hurt you so that you'd never want to see me again."

I shrugged.

"You're not worth it," she said as she turned the other way, back toward the cabins.

"Suit yourself."

"But I'm not guaranteeing that it won't happen later. All's I'm saying is I'm tired and hungry and _you_ should be thankful." With that, she stalked back off toward the cabins.

I turned back to the creek and saw someone standing there. I mean _in_ the creek. Or, should I say, on.

There was Percy standing on the water looking like he was gonna bust up laughing at any moment.

"You..." I said confusedly. I was still thinking about the water.

He looked down at his feet.

"Oh," said Percy, "right. Did I mention I'm the son of Poseidon?"

I gave him a quizzical look.

"God of the sea, water, earthquakes, horses, etcetera etcetera."

"Ah. I see."

Percy walked across the water and sank his feet into the shallows as he approached me.

"I've never seen anyone give Clarisse an opportunity like that. I'm surprised she didn't do anything." Percy was sort of laughing, sort of talking.

"Yeah, well, I didn't have any other ideas." _And I had enough of a rough day with dreams and all_, I thought to myself.

Percy started to walk off when we heard the horn [conch shell, I later found out] that signaled dinner.

We hurried across the field when I remembered I wanted to tell Percy something.

"Oh, yeah," I said, meeting his gaze for a second, "Nico says 'hi'." And, with that, I ran off to the Hermes table, leaving a confused Percy in the dust.


	9. Chapter 9

Dinner was wonderful. I made sure to remember my offering to the gods. According to my dream I'd had the other night, it seems that the Architect created the ancestors of the gods like she'd created Denizens and the gods were worshipped rather than the Architect herself.

So I made sure to give them something good.

After dinner, we all started to head back to our cabins when I heard something with my heightened, Denizen-like senses.

"What's that?" I asked, making Connor Stoll stop for a moment.

"Uh," he said, "what's what?"

I paused for a moment. I could hear something going on on the other side of the hill by the huge pine tree.

I ran over toward the hill.

"Arthur!" Connor chased after me. I still out-ran him.

When I got to the pine tree, I noticed what all the commotion was. There was someone fighting a creature over the border to the camp. I squinted my eyes but, in the evening light, it was difficult to see exactly what it was from this distance.

Then, I did something risky; I stepped over the boundary. Immediately, the large creature that was fighting the smaller figure turned its head so that its full attention was on me.

"I'll distract him!" I called to the mortal, smaller figure.

Jumping up and down and waving my arms up in the air, I decided to use the Fourth Key.

As I was pulling it out, the monster of sorts turned its full body toward me. I pointed the baton at it and yelled, "Light!"

I blinding white light came from the end of the Fourth Key that was facing the creature. While it was momentarily blinded, so was I.

"Fourth Key! Call off the light!" I said, a bit softer than my fist call.

The light shut off and I stumbled backwards, into the pine tree.

That's when the smaller figure jumped on top of the larger creature and stabbed down. The monster gasped and turned into a cloud of dust, much like an amateur Nithling. The smaller figure was left standing in the moonlight. Indeed, it was a kid about my age who looked very scared. He broke into a sprint and ran all of the way across the border. I ran after him.

As soon as the kid got over, he ran right up past Connor and collapsed.

"Arthur!" Conner yelled, "Get over here!"

I ran back over the border, feeling some unease as I crossed the boundary line. Finally reaching the two others, I bent down to examine the kid's condition. He had sweated up a storm fighting the monster and seemed to be all right--just tired.

Next thing I knew, the rest of the cabins' kids were up and around us, looking at the newcomer. Eventually, Connor and Travis carried the kid down to the Big House.

I was being patted on the shoulders again and being told that I did a good job, even though Connor was the only one who'd actually seen anything. It reminded me of right after capture the flag. I was just ready to get back to the Hermes cabin.

I heard a loud _whump!_-like noise behind the group of us. I turned around with the rest of the campers. There was a huge dog behind us. It was over the border, at least, but it was terrifying.

Somebody yelled, "Hellhound!" and a bunch of Apollo cabin's archers sprung forward, bows at the ready.

The thing growled and stalked back and forth in front of the border. That scared me. But what really was frightening about it was that the thing seemed to be looking for something...or someone.

Finally, it laid its eyes on something that absorbed its attention. It was looking at me...or rather, me and Percy who had somehow managed to get next to me.

"Great gods," Percy muttered.

"You got that right," I muttered back.

Then, the hellhound growled and jumped over the boundary. Despite the arrows and such flying at it and hitting it, it landed with a heavy paw on my chest and the other on Percy, who stabbed it, making it jump off of us. I had just enough time to jump up before it came crashing back down, swatting at Percy. I got an idea, then. The Fourth Key turned into a saber in my hand and I ran, dangerously, under the body of the hellhound. Before it could notice anything other than Percy, I jumped up (higher than a kid my height should have been able to) and stabbed between its ribs. It took a moment for the hellhound to process the damage and look to see who had stabbed it.

Right before it turned to dust it swiped a paw at me, promptly knocking me to the ground.

Its dusty remains scattered with a wind as Percy, injured himself, ran over to see if I was all right. Of course, however, being me, I wasn't. I looked down at my wound, suddenly worried that he may ask questions if my blood had already turned blue (the color of a denizen's blood). I saw my red blood splattered across my chest and arms, and lay back my head in relief and in pain.

"Arthur?" Percy waved his hand over my face.

"Yeah," I replied, "I'm conscious."

He opened his mouth to say more.

"And, no, I don't think I'm quite okay."

I looked up at him and laughed a little bit.

"Honestly, you aren't much better than I am, though."

"We need to get you some help." Percy looked at a nearby Apollo cabin kid. Percy mouthed _get Chiron_ and examined my wounds a bit more.

"You think you can walk?" he asked.

"I can sure try, but I doubt it."

He grimaced and helped me to my feet whereupon Chiron entered the area where we were standing.

It turned out that I could walk...a little bit. Percy had to support me, but at least I had control of my legs.

That's when I got an idea.

I reached for the Fourth Key and clutched it (it had become a baton again, so it was much easier to do so).

"Heal," I muttered, and immediately I felt the pain of my wounds knitting themselves back together, my broken bones moving back into place.

I screamed, and dropped to my knees, hugging myself in desperate attempt to douse the pain. My vision was blurring and blackening. I slipped in and out of consciousness, though all I could hear was people's worried and panicked voices and Percy yelling to Chiron. Finally, the pain subsided slightly and I opened my eyes to find myself lying on the ground with an Apollo camper next to me as well as Annabeth, the girl who'd showed me around camp earlier.

"Arthur?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

She sighed a quick sigh of relief. The Apollo camper quickly introduced himself as Michael Yew. I realized that he was the one who must have been behind my easing pain.

"You healed yourself, you know," he pointed out.

"Yeah," I said, "I know."

"But," Annabeth jumped in, "you healed yourself exceptionally well." She pointed at what used to be the gash over my chest. It was smooth, just as if nothing had happened. Even I was surprised by that.

"Where's Percy?" I asked, trying to figure out what was going on.

"He's getting his wounds fixed up," replied Annabeth. "He left right after we were sure you were being taken care of."

I thought for a moment, then asked, "How long has it been since I..."

"About fifteen minutes, not long at all." Michael butted in before Annabeth could say any more.

I was astonished. Then, I remembered something.

I lifted my hand up so that I could see it. I turned the ring once...twice...three times...four times. I didn't want to have to keep looking, but I did. The gold sections of the alligator ring had only grown by a smidge. I let my hand drop back down to my side. Annabeth looked down and examined the ring.

"Where'd you get that?" she asked.

"Er, a friend." I said, which wasn't exactly a lie.

Annabeth nodded her head. I started to sit up, slowly of course, and immediately collapsed back onto the grass with a groan.

Michael looked at me sympathetically.

"You want to move somewhere else?" he asked.

"Sort of, yeah."

"Do you think you could try and get your legs working again? And maybe try to walk?"

I nodded, even though I had just wiped myself out trying to sit up. eventually, though, I got to my feet and was moving my legs. I was only supporting about a third of my own weight, though. Michael and Annabeth were a huge help, practically holding me up themselves. We eventually managed to lug me over to the Big House where I was put in a reclining chair. After a little while, I fell asleep to the sound of loud talking, laughter, and Mr. D shuffling cards in the other room.

I was actually happy. I even smiled a bit before everyone went into the next room to play pinochle.

It was turning out to be real nice in Camp Half-Blood.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: So sorry for the long, **_**long, LONG**_** wait! I've had a lot of other stuff going on, plus writing a different fanfiction and two original, novel-length stories! Ack! So, here you go! A heads up that I'll put in the next chapter, too: for those of you who haven't read THROUGH **_**Superior Saturday**_** or **_**The Battle of the Labyrinth**_**, this is your chance to do so! They're exciting and easy reads (in my opinion). Exciting stuff is commin' up!**

**Now, for the story!**

When I woke up, I found a satyr lying on the couch by the chair I was in. He immediately jumped up when he saw I was awake, however.

"Hi, Arthur," he said, "I'm Tommy."

"Ah," I replied, not knowing what to say. "Hi."

"You feeling better?"

I moved my hands and ankles a bit and said, "Yeah, I think so."

Eventually, I was up and walking around like normal and made it out to the sword fighting arena before I needed a bit of rest. I sat down and watched all of the swordplay. Eventually, Tommy and I got to chatting about random things.

The swordplay ended and I decided to make my way down to the rink. I pulled the Fourth Key out of my pocket and willed it to become a saber. I swung it around a few times, attacking the straw practice dummy that looked like it would fall apart during the next strong wind. I used energy that I didn't know I could have after recently recovering from an injury like the one I'd had. Normally, this would have made me just ecstatic, but, at a time like this, that wasn't the case. As much as I needed the energy, it did show that I was becoming more and more like a denizen.

I eventually relaxed my muscles and turned around to see Tommy staring at me and smiling. That's when I noticed that Percy was next to him, also smiling, and walking down toward the floor of the arena.

"That was really impressive," he said. "But, to say the least, you need to get some rest."

I looked up at him.

"No."

Percy raised an eyebrow.

"No?"

"You got that right, no. I need to get back to the House."

Percy's other eyebrow raised at this.

"Um, okay." He sat down on the first row bench. I came over and sat down next to him, while turning the key back into a baton, of course. Percy wrung his hands. Out of the corner of my eye, another satyr came over and told Tommy to "come see something really cool". I ignored this for the most part.

Percy sighed and looked up at me, searching my face with his sea-green eyes. "Arthur?"

"Hm?" I replied as I sat down next to him.

"I have a message from Chiron...he wants me to tell you that you're coming on a search with Annabeth and me into..." he paused.

"Into...?"

"...into the Labyrinth."

There was an awkward pause. I looked right back at him in surprise. I didn't think I would get a "quest" (as it was called) soon, if at all. I was still trying to figure out what to do: how to make my next move. I had a problem because I really wanted to go back home, but I also really wanted to get back to the House to sort things out again.

Without really thinking about it, I said, "Of course I'll come."

Percy half-smiled. I could see a sort of sadness in his expression. I really didn't want to go, and I'm pretty sure he didn't want me to either. However, I figured that it was a good idea to take any opportunity to get into the Labyrinth. Supposedly, it was something that was like a living maze under the country...or that's what Tommy had told me while we were chatting. Apparently it could drive a person insane and there was a rescue mission being assembled for two Camp members who'd gotten lost in the maze. I assumed, then, that I was being taken on this mission.

"Well," Percy said, coolly. "Get yourself together and ready for this evening when we're going in."

I smiled at him. He half smiled back.

If this maze went all over the place, there was a chance that there was a connection to the front door in it. And, if there was, I was going to find it.

Percy's POV (point of view)

It was sort of terrifying, the determined look on Arthur's face; the expression that I probably had at that age...when I traveled to the underworld for the first time. I was sort of disappointed that he'd agreed to go with Annabeth and me. Anyhow, I needed to find Grover and Tyson. The only way to do that was to go into the Labyrinth.

Arthur looked like he wanted to find someone...or something in the Labyrinth. There was no turning back after he said yes. I'd have to introduce him to Rachel, too (which would be painstakingly difficult, or so it seemed to me at that point).

"Yo, Seaweed-brain!" Annabeth's voice rang across the volleyball court. I turned around and smiled at her, but quickly wiped the stupid grin off my face.

"Did he say yes?" she continued.

"Yeah," I said, "I sorta wish he hadn't, too."

"Just cool your jets, Arthur's a tough kid...or he's proven to be so far. I'm sure he'll be fine."

I sighed and nodded. "I guess you're right. I just don't want to...you know...take him into too much danger. I think this is even way too much for just getting here and recovering from an injury. Maybe I am over thinking it, but I think it's just too early for him."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

"Last I checked, you had about this much time before _you_ got a full out _quest_."

I turned around to go to my cabin and make sure everything was in order before I left. Annabeth ran after me after a second.

"Make sure you're ready to go this evening, okay?" she said. "I'll get Arthur when it's time."

I turned around and looked at Annabeth.

"Thanks. I'll see you then."

She smiled and walked off, leaving me.

Arthur's POV (again)

Later that afternoon, Annabeth came and got me and Percy. We got a taxi to take us to a street corner in Manhattan. There were a few kids standing on a tarp. At first, I didn't know they were kids because they were completely covered in shiny paint and glitter so that they looked like metal statues. One of the girls moved and another moved out of place, another kid replacing her, and came up to the three of us.

"Hi, Rachel," Percy said to the girl.

"Percy." She smiled and nodded her head.

"I've met Annabeth here," she continued, just to Percy, "but who's this?" Rachel pointed her finger in my direction, sprinkling a little bit of glittery paint shavings on the ground.

"Arthur," I answered for Percy and offered my hand to her, after thinking about it for a second (I figured that the paint would wash off, and, no worries, it did...eventually). She shook my hand, glanced at Annabeth, and looked back at Percy.

"I'd better wash up, don't ya think?"

One thorough washing later, we were sitting in a coffee shop. Rachel was still sort of glittery in a few places, but it was definitely an improvement over how she was about a half-hour before.

Percy and Annabeth explained the situation to the two of us: that a couple of their friends were stuck in the Labyrinth and they needed Rachel as their mortal eyes. This part confused me, so Percy said that a mortal could be sort of like a tour guide in the Labyrinth. I decided not to question this any.

Annabeth then went into explaining that there was a door that they needed to find to get into the Labyrinth. It would be marked by a triangle: (aka a delta). That's when I could practically see a light bulb go off in Rachel's brain.

"I think I've seen one," she said. "Come on."

We got up and walked into the basement of a hotel where there was a locked door with a little delta etched next to it. Annabeth touched the triangle, making it glow blue. I could feel my eyebrows arch with interest.

"But I..." Rachel looked just as surprised as I felt. "I've even tried that. Why'd it work for you?"

"I guess it just needed a demigod's touch," Percy replied.

The doorway opened to reveal a Cyclops's skeleton. That was another surprise that made me jump a bit instead.

Percy blinked a few times. Annabeth furrowed her brow, just to straighten her expression again and push the skeleton aside.

"Come on," she said. "Not anyone we know."

Percy nodded nervously.

"You know a Cyclops?" Rachel's voice piped up from behind me as we entered the tunnel.

"Yeah," Percy said. "Um, my half-brother."

Rachel raised an eyebrow at Percy, "Your brother's a Cyclops?"

He nodded.

"It's, um..."

Annabeth saved him by saying, "Time for explanations later."

Rachel took the lead and pointed at different places to show us where to go and survive. At one point, we all got chased by something unidentifiable, even by Annabeth (our daughter of Athena in the group).

"And I suppose that I would hate to see the not-safe path," I remarked when we lost our creepy tail.

"Hmm, yeah," Rachel said. "You really would."

After what seemed like a few hours more, I was starving and tired beyond imagination. Finally, there was a large room where we sat down on Rachel's okay and ate a few granola bars. I would have conjured something a bit better from Nothing, but that would have simply wiped me out, not that I didn't pass out right after I finished the snack.

I had no dreams, but I did wake up to see that Percy and Annabeth were asleep, leaving Rachel to guard. I got up and walked over to sit next to her.

"So," I said. This apparently surprised her. She jumped and spun her head around, relaxing, of course, after she saw it was just me.

"Gah! Don't do that!"

I chuckled, "I didn't mean to scare you."

Rachel sighed.

"Tired?" I asked.

"Not yet."

I smiled, then sat down next to her.

"So what's your story?" she asked. "Mine's that my dad's one of the most successful businessmen in America and he treats me like a little girl. My life needed something exciting like this badly, so this is just a nice break from school and life for me."

"If I told you mine, you'd really..." I trailed off. "Well, you'd never really believe me."

"What, you another one of these demigod types?" she guessed.

"No, actually," I said, "I've been trying to tell Percy, Chiron, and the others that I'm really not. I'm...well, I'm the heir to the universe, I suppose." I looked up to see her reaction. Her eyes looked more interested than scared-of-this-freaky-deluded-kid, so I continued.

"My parents died of a freak outbreak of influenza when I was little, so I was adopted by some great people who I may have lost...I don't know, but I was chosen to be the heir to the seven 'Keys to the Kingdom' of the House, aka the epicenter of the universe. I've been collecting the different parts of the Will of the Architect. The Architect built the House and was the first being to come into existence. I'd just gained the Key from Sir Thursday, you might see it as my baton-sword-thing." I gestured to the Key at my belt.

"I was going home by means of a...well, I guess a teleporting device called the Seven Dials when I somehow managed to get to the beach by Camp Halfblood. The rest was just hectic, landing me here in the Labyrinth."

Rachel raised her eyebrows, quizzically. "Wow. After that story, you really seem different to me. Hah, you stressed at all?"

I rolled my eyes and said, "You bet."

Rachel yawned so big that it actually made me need to suppress a laugh.

"I might take up that offer now that I think about it." She stood up and stretched. "Can you watch for a while?"

"Sure," I said.

She walked over to a nice spot on the floor and was out like a light. I smiled, and waited for everyone to wake up before we continued on our way.

Rachel pointed us in the right direction the whole day (at least it seemed like a day. Percy explained that time runs differently in the Labyrinth. To say the least, I was about sick of all of these time changes.)

We were walking quietly down a tunnel when we heard something up ahead of us. All four of us thought the same thing at the same time: run.

When we reached the entrance to the tunnel, however, there were these snake-women standing there, blocking our way. Trapped. We were hopelessly trapped. Even Rachel couldn't have seen it coming. The monster from behind us came and grabbed Rachel and me.

The snake-women led us to an arena-like room. There was a crowd of monsters filling the stands that, before I showed up at Camp Halfblood, would have given me a Nithling-heart-attack. They took Percy's and Annabeth's weapons and, after a moment of hesitation, took my baton as well.

As I searched the crowded space with my eyes, I spotted a man who seemed two or three times the size of a regular human being. Plus, sitting next to him, was Luke. I'd only seen Luke once, and I knew that there was something important about him if he kept turning up like this. This worried me; I'd had enough trouble with important people in the past. Two creatures were fighting in the center of the arena, which was, apparently, getting quite a good review from the audience. One of them was about to kill the other when the one on the offensive glanced up at the large man. The man grinned and gave him the thumbs-down. The defensive creature was then killed, and, just like a Nithling would, turned to dust.

It was difficult to watch. I looked up to see Luke staring at the four of us, especially Percy, Annabeth, and I. I suppose his interest didn't orbit around mortals that much. At that moment, I knew that I would need the Fourth Key to get out. I couldn't do anything without it.

The next sequence of events happened so fast, it was like a blur. Percy told us to stay put as Luke called him out to the arena. When another kid came out, Percy was given his sword back. He and the other kid had been engaged in battle for a bit when suddenly Percy knocked the boy to the ground, his sword pointed at the throat.

_Don't do it, Percy_, I thought. Some part of me knew that he was too dignified to do something so low as to kill another person. He helped the boy back up, gaining plenty of jeering from the monsters. Next I knew, Percy had challenged the large man to a duel. They exchanged blows until Percy lost his sword. He thought for a second, then did some amazing hand-to-hand that I didn't expect from a child of Poseidon like him. He jumped off of the man's head and grabbed one of the chains hanging from the ceiling. Suddenly, he had his sword back in his hands (later, I figured out this was a magical quality that his sword had where it re-appeared in his pocket after a few minutes of not being there) and he let the man weaken before dropping to the ground.

Luke ordered an attack from all of the monsters sitting in the stands (who were apparently under his command). I reached out my hand and concentrated on the Fourth Key. It suddenly flew into my hand, scaring the monster holding me to pieces. I pointed the baton at the thing's face and said, "Sand!" thus, turning it into sand.

I was running alongside Rachel, Percy, and Annabeth when I heard an ear-splitting, high-pitched whistle that made me slam my hands over my ears and drop to my knees (in the middle of running for my life, may I remind you. That hurt _bad_.) That's when I noticed that it was Percy, blowing a dog whistle that looked like it was made out of some metal frozen with liquid nitrogen. It shattered, and a huge hellhound came bounding out of the tunnel in front of us, attacking the monsters behind us. I was, meanwhile, recovering from the noise.

Rachel grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet, only to have me collapse again.

"You actually heard that?" Percy asked above the noise.

"Y-yeah," I said much more quietly than him.

"Come on, Arthur!" Rachel said, tugging at my forearm, now. "Get up! This isn't the time to be collapsing because of a high-pitched noise!"

I took a deep breath and said, "No, I can't recover that fast from even something like that." It seemed as if the whistle had struck my nerve endings so hard that it was hard to move.

"But-" Percy started to say.

"You're loosing time! Go! While you can!" I screamed at them. Annabeth grabbed Percy and Rachel, gave me a concerned look, and ran. I buckled over, holding my head. Someone calmly walked up behind me and put their hand on my shoulder.

"Shh, shh," a voice said behind me. "Here, how's this?" The person touched the back of my neck and everything eased. It was so sudden that I simply collapsed on the ground. I looked up to see Luke standing over me. I didn't know what to think; why did he like _me_? He hated Percy, Annabeth, and Camp Halfblood, so what made me any different than them? Oh, yeah. I was resisting them too. There _was_ a mystery with this, but maybe he knew...about the House...about me.

"Let's get you somewhere better than here, all right?" Luke suggested.

I swallowed then paused.

"Well, only if you help me up."

Luke grinned and helped me to my feet before leading me back to the arena where I promptly passed out, leaving Luke to lug me along the rest of the way.


	11. Chapter 11

I woke up about five minutes after Luke had apparently managed to hand me off to a hyperborean giant who, soon after, set me down on an stone slab cast off to the side in a room that was somehow connected to the Labyrinth. At first, all I saw was an orange glow of a torch in the corner of my vision. Soon, a few more lit up the room and curious me sat up. Luke wasn't in the room, but there was a dracaena lighting torches around the room and down the hall leading to it.

She noticed me and hissed quietly before leaving. I walked around to look at the walls (which had etchings that were starting to catch my eye). On the walls were carved people, creatures, structures, and letters. I noticed, immediately, that the words were not in English. They were Greek. Ancient Greek. And I couldn't read worth anything. I did notice that the pictures represented famous events in the Greek history.

"So, find anything interesting yet?" said a voice behind me, making me spin around. It was Luke again.

"Hah, interesting alright," I replied. "I can't understand anything other than the pictures, but other than that it's pretty intriguing."

Luke gave a bit of a half-smile at that. He walked up to a single part of the wall and rubbed his hand over it.

"This," he said, "right here. This is the whole Iliad re-written. Amazing. And this...this is Odysseus's return...it's amazing what sorts of things you find in this Labyrinth." He sighed and looked back at me.

"You want to go home, right?"

I raised my eyes to him from the words on the wall.

"Yeah," I said, "or, at least, somewhere."

He smiled at me. "I can get you there. To the House."

This took me by surprise. The last thing I was expecting was to be told that Luke could get me to the _House_. I had just started to wonder how he knew that I wanted to go to the House as well as how he knew what the House actually was, but I decided not to argue or push it any.

Instead, I merely asked, "How?"

Luke's eyes sparkled a bit with mischief (the kind I recognized from the Hermes cabin members-to say the least, I only realized why that was quite a while later).

"A portal. The front door connects to the Labyrinth in this room, believe it or not." Luke pointed at a string of letters on the wall that were larger than the others. He traced his fingers over them and they began to glow. Suddenly, a door-like opening appeared, but it didn't lead to the Labyrinth, it had more of the feeling of the front door to the House. I stepped towards it and turned to look at Luke before I walked through.

"Why," I asked, "should I trust you? Really. What's in it for you?"

He smirked and said, "You."

Then he pushed me through the doorway and I fell through to the Maze, where I landed right in front of Dame Primus who stared at me for a couple of seconds before saying, "You weren't gone long."

I took a deep breath and said, "It was longer than you think it was."

She nodded and didn't ask questions (oddly unlike Dame Primus, but Arthur was enjoying missing the interrogation).

I walked off to go check on things, trying not to think about the past few days at the Camp.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: Hey, all! I'm soooo sorry I made you wait for so long! Here's the next chapter; it starts at the VERY END of **_**Superior Saturday**_** and somewhere in the midst of **_**The Last Olympian**_**. Hope y'all like it.**

I plummeted toward the ground of the Upper House.

Actually, I technically was headed straight for the roof of a building, which wasn't much better. I had the Sixth Key in one hand and the Fifth Key in the other. Suddenly, I got an idea. The kind of idea that only happens when you're falling to your death. I summoned the Improbable Stair.

Yeah, I know, I could have used the Fifth Key, but I had no idea if what I looked like would scare me, whether the resistance had grown from last time I went through the bright doorway, or where in the universe to go. So, I harnessed the power of the Improbable Stair.

I found myself falling down the bright, marble stairs at top speed, crashing, thrashing, looking for something to hold on to. Eventually, I stopped myself from falling even further and ran as fast as I could back up the stairs. Some part of me knew that it was a bad idea to stick around at the bottom of the steps for much longer.

Eventually, a bright door of light appeared at what looked like the top of the stairs.

I took it.

Ran right through.

And I ended up in a place I thought I'd never see again.

Percy's POV

Annabeth and I were wandering through the woods out by the camp, in search for something that had made a loud noise.

How much clearer can I get?

It was one of those noises that makes a _BANG!_ noise and is completely unavoidable. Annabeth also explained that there was a strange stench in the air...one that wasn't bad like a monster, but not one that's completely engrossing like Aphrodite (we'd both experienced that firsthand).

So, we were walking through the woods in search for what had made the _BANG!_ noise. I know, I know, probably not the smartest idea, but you know us demigods...

Three yards ahead of me, Annabeth turns around and calls, "Percy!"

I ran forward to ask what it was, when I noticed what she was looking at.

There was a person lying on the ground with an arched back and a look of absolute pain on his face. Annabeth looked back at me.

"We should help him...or it," she said.

"I don't think that's such a good idea..." I trailed off, but Annabeth started walking forward before I could do anything about it.

I had to fight myself to stand still and not drag her back to stand away from the creature, human or not. There was something unnerving about this person...thing.

She put her hand on the shoulder of the creature and it shrank back in pain. Annabeth picked its head up and placed it on her knees, stroking its hair and telling it it was all okay. I was astonished that she wasn't attacked. Finally, it calmed down and relaxed. It opened its eyes and I saw...well, I saw a perfect-looking face, a tall body, and limber but strong arms and legs. He (definitely a he) was almost too perfect to be human.

I almost jumped out of my skin, too when he looked at me, furrowed his eyebrows, and asked, in a voice I only barely recognized, "Percy?"

Arthur's POV

Annabeth stopped dead and looked straight into my eyes. I had no idea what I looked like anymore, I was definitely 100% Denizen, but I had no idea if that made me look like a total freak or not.

"Percy? Annabeth?" I asked, again.

They stared at me.

"Hey," Percy breathed.

I sat up and held my head as I felt the blood rushing down to the rest of my body. Looking around, I sat up with one leg out and one knee up by my chest.

"Outside camp...why did it drop me off here...?" I realized that they were still staring at me.

"Who...?" Percy started.

I looked up and realized that I must have been gone for quite a while for them not to at least recognize me a little bit. Either that or I looked so different that the whole "Arthur Penhaligon" wasn't a part of my appearance as much as the whole "Heir to the Architect" part was. I must have looked insane because they were looking at me like I was a new species of bug that they were considering squashing.

I picked up the Fifth key and glanced into it. My eyes were black...I was afraid to look much past that.

"Who are you?" Annabeth finished Percy's thought.

I made contact with her stormy, gray eyes.

"Arthur. Arthur Penhaligon."


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: I'm publishing this one at the same time as the previous chapter so...no wait this time! Yay! Currently listening to: Coldplay! (for no particular reason)**

Annabeth's POV

Arthur. Arthur Penhaligon. That was impossible. Arthur looked nothing like this man. Then again, there was a slight chance that Arthur survived the Labyrinth...but anything anyone ever guessed was that he had just been assimilated by Kronos' army. Dionysus and even Chiron think that he would be better off dead than in Kronos' army. They would never explain why, either.

Something about a house.

Anyway, "Arthur" sat in front of us (when I thought about it, he really _did_ sit like Arthur used to) and rubbed his head in agitation.

He made eye contact with me again and said, "Please tell me you recognize me," as if he knew what the answer would be.

"No," Percy said. "Not entirely...but you do sort of sound like him..."

"And act like him," I added.

"From what you've seen so far," Arthur muttered. He looked up at our confused faces, "I even realize that you can't trust me enough right now just by some small gestures, a voice, and a claim. It's too risky."

I smiled.

"I have an idea," I looked up at Percy and said, "let's see if he can make it through the camp borders."

Arthur's POV

Camp borders.

What did they mean by _that_? I had a feeling that thee was something special about borders, but I had no idea what it was. Something told me I was about to find out what it was.

Percy and Annabeth helped me up and directed me back to Thalia's tree at the camp border.

"What's this all about?" I asked.

"If you can get across," Annabeth explained, "you aren't a monster or anything like that. If you are a demigod, you can make it past."

"But I'm not a demigod! I know that for a fact!" I slacked my shoulders and shouted up at the sky. Looking back down at them, I said, "I've been trying to tell you that from the beginning!"

Percy and Annabeth made eye contact, then Percy looked at me and said, "Sure, Lord Arthur."

I shut my eyes for a second, then opened them to look right back at him.

"Don't call me that, please. Not one of my friends." I gave a little laugh then said, "I'm surprised you even remembered that tiny conversation."

"It's kind of a hard one to forget," Percy pointed out.

"True," I admitted.

Annabeth smiled at me.

"You really are Arthur, aren't you?"

I grimaced. I wanted to say, _on the inside, yeah._

"Come on, let's get this over with," Percy said. "We need to tell Chiron about you."

The two of them stepped across the border. I looked at the tree, the strawberry fields, and the night sky. It looked so peaceful and welcoming to me. I don't know why it did, but it just did. I could feel the tension in the air, though. Something was going on, definitely. I decided that I'd talk to Chiron about it when I went to see him. Slowly, I put one foot over the border, then the other. I sighed in relief.

"Let's go!" Percy said, smiling, and taking off toward the Big House. I grinned and chased after him, Annabeth on our heels.

When we reached the porch of the Big House, Annabeth and Percy caught their breath and I laughed at them. Annabeth seemed at least a bit curious as to how I wasn't completely wiped out from running down the hill. I responded to her look with a toothy grin. She smiled back.

"Come on inside," said a voice from behind us. I turned around to face it. It was Chiron, standing in the doorway with his horse-half tucked away in his "magical wheelchair".

Annabeth and Percy stepped into the main room of the Big House. I made my way up the porch cautiously. I knew I had nothing to worry about, but I was cautious anyway.

"And who is this?" Chiron said quietly, directing the comment at me.

I cleared my throat a bit and looked away.

Annabeth put her hand on Chiron's shoulder and whispered something in his ear. His eyebrows arched in surprise.

"Come in, then, Arthur." His eyes were worried and focused on me, studying my features.

I had to make sure not to hit my head on the top of the doorway because of my new height. I sat in the chair that I'd slept in not too long ago and clasped my hands together in my lap in order to keep them from going haywire in nervousness.

We sat in silence for a while before Chiron finally said, "Alive, now, are you?"

I looked up at him and said, "I don't think I was ever otherwise."

He nodded his head.

"Where did you go then?"

I raised an eyebrow, questioningly.

"You were captured in the Labyrinth. How did you escape? Did you ever escape? Tell me all you can."

So I started from waking up in the room, told them the things Luke had told me...accept for the last part.

_"Why," I asked, "should I trust you? Really. What's in it for you?"_

_He smirked and said, "You."_

That part I had decided to keep to myself. I wanted to figure it out for myself and not have to drag my friends into it. Chiron was still giving me a worrying stare.

"How did you get back here from the House, then?" he asked.

"I took the Improbable Stair, which is just _so_ improbable, that it brought me back here."

Chiron nodded in understanding.

"Wait," Percy said, "what are you talking about? 'Improbable Stair'? What's that? House?"

"I think it's..." Annabeth furrowed her brow, deep in concentration. "It's where Arthur got here from in the first place..." She cleared her expression, then looked at Percy, then Chiron, then right at me. "Oh, Gods, the epi..."

She trailed off.

"Epi-what?" Percy asked, completely confused.

"The Epicenter of the Universe," I answered for Annabeth. "The House of the Great Architect...and I'm the Heir to it all."

Percy's eyes widened, Annabeth looked at Chiron again, and Chiron looked at the floor.

Everyone was in silence.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's note: Sorry it took so long, but I'm on a roll! I bet there are some minor spoilers in the next few chapters for PJatO if you haven't read book 5 yet. Do so if you haven't! It's awesome :D**

Kronos felt a slight disturbance in Time. It was like an itch at the back of his neck. He ran his fingers through his newly gained blonde hair. Luke was, indeed, a great host for him; the boy was strong, fast, agile, and as sly as a child of Hermes could get. Not to mention steeping in revenge. His emotions and features were the perfect mix for the Titan of Time.

The disturbance in Time was definitely caused by a creature, but he had no idea. It was a powerful being. Terrifyingly, it seemed more powerful of an essence than his own. Luke had told him a while ago that something like this would happen. He had thought that the boy was fooling with him, but, once more, the Titan of Time had let his ego get the best of him and ignored the boy. Now he noticed that that may have been a big mistake.

He knew he had to either eliminate this threat or assimilate it. Most likely he would try to assimilate: the more allies, the better was his way of thinking. If he had to, he would do his best to wipe out the creature. That came as a plan B, though.

Focusing his energy on the disturbance, he looked at it through a pair of eyes that weren't even existent. What he saw, made him gasp out of shock. Its energy was older than Chaos itself. A new form, definitely, but the thing...was recognizable to Kronos.

He opened his golden eyes and reached to the back of his shared mind where the son of Hermes had been pushed.

The Titan of Time had one thing to say to the boy: "The Heir is back."

As Luke's consciousness received the message, their shared body shuddered, making Kronos shut the son of Hermes off again in irritation. All either of them could do is watch and wait for an opportunity to strike.

And, according to the Titan of Time, that would be very soon.

Arthur's POV

I slept in the Big House for the rest of that night and, surprisingly, I did sleep well. Sleep deprivation doesn't effect you in the House, but it sure does once you step right back into one of the Secondary Realms.

My dreams were muddled with memories of the room of runes and the confusing architecture of the Labyrinth compared to that of the House. I had no idea what I was going to do when I tried to introduce myself to some of my friends from Hermes cabin. All I really _could_ do was sleep, so that's probably why I slept so well.

I thought that I heard someone walk into the room and out of the room at one point, but when I opened my eyes I saw the room with runes instead of the Big House. It was like it was haunting me.

When I finally woke up, I went out to breakfast at the dining pavilion. People glanced sideways at me and whispered to each other, but I really could care less by that point. I couldn't help but laugh when I noticed the Aphrodite cabin girls smiling and chatting with each other about me.

I tried to keep down and quiet, but I was obviously the talk of the morning. I sat at the Hermes table (even though I was sure I would never be claimed by anyone, I did have to sit somewhere), next to Connor Stoll. We had a good time, I'll admit. I felt like my old self again only, instead of him cracking short/small jokes, he was cracking long/tall jokes. He was just the same as always.

I kept the Fifth and Sixth Keys with me at all times. I probably looked a bit weird with a quill behind my ear and a mirror hooked to my belt, but I did my best to ignore stares. I followed the Hermes cabin activities for the day (mainly because it was the only thing for me to do) and had fun following the crowd.

When we reached the sword-playing arena, I noticed that there was a huge hellhound sitting in the middle. I had had horrible experiences with them before so I stopped dead when I saw it.

"_Arf!_" she barked as she saw the new person. New person = me.

"It's okay," Travis Stoll laughed at me. "She's friendly. Not like the last one you met." He winked at me.

I nodded slowly, and followed the rest of the campers to the bottom of the risers. Percy was standing there with his sword, Riptide. He grinned up at us and waved when he saw me. I waved back to be friendly. I was honestly still worried about the hellhound, but I had to believe Travis because everyone else was either ignoring her or patting her side as they passed, receiving an earsplitting "_Arf!_"

We gathered in a group on the bottom two riser benches. I had no designated sword, so I sat there without one.

"Arthur," Percy beckoned me forward. I stood up and walked over to him.

"Here's a sword. You had one last time, but this one can substitute for now." He held out a bronze sword with a deep earth-colored hilt. I twisted it back and forth a couple of times, examining it, when I caught my reflection, winced, and looked back up...oops, _down_ at Percy. I gave a slight grimace before replying.

"Thanks, Percy, I really can't thank you guys enough."

He raised an eyebrow and smiled back at my comment. Was it just me, or did he look almost relieved? Maybe just the opposite: he sure looked like he was holding the weight of the world on his shoulders. Percy had definitely changed since I had last seen him. He had grown several inches and, well, so had I, but he had the look on his face that there was a great decision he was trying to make. I later found out that that's precisely what it was.

"I don't know what you mean," he winked at me. "Welcome back to Camp."

Percy's just one of those people you can't help but like...well, in most cases. According to Annabeth, he can be a real buffoon. According to Clarisse, he's a complete pinhead. According to Luke, he's commonly a pest. I found it hard not to like him, though. He's just friendly to new kids, I guess.

The rest of Hermes cabin just went about usual business, sparring and play-fighting. Percy took me over to the corner of the arena, nearby "Mrs. O'Leary" the _friendly_ hellhound. After a few moments, she and I got used to each other. Then, Percy uncapped his ballpoint pen. It lengthened into a sword.

"Woa," I muttered under my breath before holding my sword up too."

"Hyya!" he yelled, swinging the sword at me, skillfully. I had to work to dodge it. I struck back. Swords clashed and scraped. We battled until we were both drenched in sweat. A couple of sparring couples turned and watched, but I paid them no attention. I simply swung the sword, jumped, and stepped when necessary. We slammed the swords together, pushing equally as much at each other. I stood there and pushed my muscles a bit further than they probably were used to going, making Percy bend backwards a bit and slide on the dusty ground.

"Ready?" I asked, laughing tiredly.

"Oh, you bet," he smiled back, taking the challenge.

We broke away. I lunged at him, and he jumped out of the way, slashing at my back. I crouched down, low to the ground, and took a swipe at his legs with the flat side of my blade. He jumped like a kid does over a jump rope, then launched himself off my flat back with one foot, landing perfectly on my unprotected side.

Well, that last part didn't last for long. No sooner had he landed over there, than I had spun to face him, still crouching and wielding my sword, ready. He laughed a bit, exhaustedly again, but this time it was from physical exhaustion, not emotional. I suppose it had been a while since he had had someone like this to spar with. I jumped up as soon as he came forward to strike back. Swords clashed and scraped once more. All of Hermes cabin was watching, now. Connor and Travis had started cheering for Percy or me. Some other camp members joined in as well.

Again, I paid no attention to them and kept my head in the game. Percy and I were an arm's length away from each other. Both of us hooked our sword-arm around each other's necks, in kill position. We'd ended in a tie.

Percy looked astonished.

The other astonished one was Chiron, who was now standing at the top bleacher.

"_Bene quidem fecisti_," I said, smiling.

Percy raised an eyebrow at my sudden Latin phrase. I cocked my eyebrow back at him and tipped my head slightly sideways, still smiling, as if I were saying, _Come on, you did._

"_Nai, na einai poly,_" he replied with a creeping smile.

I laughed breathily. We broke away, as if on signal, lowering our weapons and shaking hands. The Hermes cabin was cheering and clapping for us. I glanced up and noticed that Chiron was also smiling and clapping.

Percy noticed this too and waved up at him. Chiron waved at the two of us and beckoned for us to come forward.

"Wonderful! Wonderful! _Molto bene!_"

We looked at him, almost with embarrassed expressions on our faces.

"That was the most exciting sword fight I have seen in months! Years, even!" He looked to me. "Where did you learn to fight like that, boy? I know where Percy did." Percy blushed.

"I sort of..." I thought. I couldn't remember ever really _learning_ the moves I had used in the arena with Percy. "...learned a few tricks over the summer?"

Chiron beamed.

"Well, I think that was fantastic. I say, Percy, what would he do with a better sword?"

Percy's turn to beam.

"I can't imagine. I'm glad he's not the enemy." He gave me a subconscious nervous glance.

"Let's find one then, shall we?"

We entered the supply room. There were weapons of all shapes and sizes all over the walls and stacked in (and out of) boxes sitting on the floor.

I rummaged through some of the trinkets while Percy searched for a sword for me. Chiron was waiting outside, talking to an Apollo cabin member. Several times, Percy pulled swords out and I hefted them. None of them seemed right. Suddenly, one caught my eye in the back of the room.

"What about this one?" I asked, holding it up to the light. It was a beautifully crafted, long, single handed sword. It was bronze and had letters carved into the side. The hilt was a perfect shade of cedar (and smelled like it, too).

Percy stood up and froze when he looked at it. He shook his head, as if to snap himself out of a daze.

"That blade..." he said. "That was Luke's old blade. Before he got his..._new_ one, of course. It was the one he trained with."

I examined it. No wonder Luke trained with it; it was a work of art as well as a weapon.

"I don't see too much harm in using it," Percy continued, "but its owner, previous to Luke, was Odysseus. He had many, of course, but this was one he enjoyed the most."

"I can't tell why he wouldn't," I said, holding the blade and hilt with both hands.

Percy's face returned from its stone-cold state, becoming cheery once more.

"Yeah, I don't either. I'd never trade Riptide for it any day, though." He went back to looking.

"I understand. If I had a ballpoint pen that turned into a sword, I wouldn't give it up so easily either."

He grinned up at me from his bent position.

"Mm-hmm, it's perfect, too." He stood up and brushed miscellaneous powder and dust off of his knees. "You should use it. I bet it cuts like nothing else."

We walked out of the weaponry room to meet up with Chiron. He beckoned me to the Big House immediately. Percy followed.

"Arthur," Chiron started, as we made it to the front porch table, "another thing that surprised me was your ability to speak...well, Latin. It's not a common skill anymore, sadly, and it usually appears in demigods. I know what you will say. You'll claim not to be a demigod or anything of the sort, but I want to test your knowledge a bit, if you don't mind."

I stared at the centaur-in-a-wheelchair for a moment, then said, "Sure, why not."

"_Confide "inquit, acuta in terram, Haec unda init litora revolvet nobis cito._"

"In semper quae videbantur meridiatum. Orbis ora aer nec languida exanimata spirare, quasi qui somnium longa." I finished for him.

He kept looking at me, straight in the eyes. I did not waver once. Why would I ever need to? I thought. Why would this inferior creature ever scare something as powerful as me? If I were him I would be trembling where I stood! I'd-

I stopped thinking this way. This wasn't me thinking, again. Something else was taking over. I could feel it. I could _hear_ it.

"What does it mean?"

I blinked and, without thinking, immediately translated, "'Courage!' he said, and pointed toward the land, 'This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon.' In the afternoon they came unto a land in which it seemed always afternoon. All round the coast the languid air did swoon, breathing like one that hath a weary dream." I hesitated. Did I really just do that? I then impressed myself, Chiron, and Percy.

"Homer. 'The Lotus-Eaters.'"

We were all silent for a moment. Percy leaned back in his chair with a contemplating look on his face.

"Try something else," Chiron challenged.

"From fairest creatures we desire increase, that thereby beauty's rose might never die, but as the riper should by time decease, his tender heir might bear his memory: but thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes, feed'st thy light'st flame with self-substantial fuel, making a famine where abundance lies, thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel. Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament and only herald to the gaudy spring, within thine own bud buriest thy content and, tender churl, makest waste in niggarding. Pity the world, or else this glutton be, to eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.

"Maybe I...learned more than a few things over the summer," I said after a hesitation.

"Indeed," Chiron replied, "I believe you did, Lord Arthur."

Okay! Translation fun time!

Translation 1: Bene quidem fecisti: "You did well." (Latin)

Translation 2: Nai, na einai poly: "Yes, you too" (Greek)

Translation 3: Molto bene: "Very good" or "well" (Latin)


	15. Chapter 15

**Arthur's POV**

What _was_ that? Since when did I read classic stories?

I sat out on the dock where the canoes were, waving occasionally at a water nymph, trying to look on the bright side of things.

There was something I hadn't thought about in my last visit: my ability to use the keys on different days without much more than a few minutes' passing in the House. I couldn't see any real reason that the Fourth Key worked as well as it did on the other days of the week, but Camp Half-Blood and the Labyrinth were two things that seemed almost as mysterious as the House itself. I trashed the thought after only a few minutes.

What was happening to me? I wasn't fully a Denizen, was I? I didn't want to worry about looking at the ring on my finger, which would have told me everything regarding the fact. It was just one more thing that I didn't want to have on my mind.

The camp was all on edge. I could tell, even though I hadn't been there for a very long time. Percy and Annabeth were still talking to Chiron back at the Big House. I wondered what they were conversing about, hoping it wasn't too much about me.

As my mind began to drift back home, I heard someone approach the dock.

"So, what happened to you?" Percy's voice said, over the noise of crickets in the tall grasses by my feet (it took a bit of work to keep my long limbs from touching the water below them).

"You seemed reluctant to say anything about your return," Percy commented, after a moment's hesitation.

"It was strange," was all I could manage at first. "I kind of don't want to talk about it."

"Well, I discovered a friend of mine is the heir to the epicenter of the universe, and plenty of strange things go on every week here, so anything you say won't faze me, if that's the problem. If you need to talk about it, though, I'm here for ya." He patted my shoulder and gave me a smile, sitting down next to me. I noted that his feet didn't even skim the water.

"Thanks," I said, returning his smile, but not feeling it reach my eyes. "I guess I just need some casual company right now. Nobody calling me Lord Arthur, nobody with weird spells or umbrellas or anything…" I trailed off, then laughed to myself. This was ridiculous. Why was I even staying this long?

"I should probably leave before something big and bad follows me here."

Percy gave me a quizzical look.

"If it's anything we can't handle here at the camp, I'm sure you can just fine," he replied, trying to boost my confidence.

"Yeah, I'm not entirely sure about that," I said, in a simple manner. "Everyone has so much confidence in me. The ones that don't, usually aren't really all they're cracked up to be. I just…I don't want to be treated like the heir. I want to be just plain, old Arthur again."

Percy hesitated again, then said, "I get what you mean. Everyone thinks I'm something special. I'm a Son of one of the Big Three, I went on a big quest when I was just twelve-years-old, I've gone on tons of quests since then, I've held up the sky, and I'm even compared to Luke before he was influenced by Kronos." He had said _influenced_ in a way that sounded like he wanted to use a different word. Surely I'd figure out later. Before I could mull it over for too long, he continued.

"I suppose it is all amazing and special and stuff, but I really wish I could be treated like a normal camper for once. The only people who really do that are my closest friends. I guess I can kind of see where you're coming from."

I stared off, across the creek for a few seconds, allowing a bit of silence, before I asked, "What's going on here, then?"

Percy drew a breath in, then released it. Stress was really all I could read from him since I left the Improbable Stair. Something bad was happening, and it really took a toll on him specifically.

"A war is about to go all out. Everyone in the camp knows it. Luke…well, Kronos and his army are on the move. They have plans, and we can only really guess what they are. Whatever happens, it won't be good."

"Wait," I interjected, "so Kronos is the Titan of Time, right?" Percy nodded.

"And what exactly is it with him and Luke? Are they allies or something?"

"They…well, Luke is…" Percy fought for the right words before settling on one option, lowering his voice a bit.

"Don't talk to Annabeth about it, but Luke has been sort of possessed by Kronos. We don't know if he's even in there anymore."

"Oh," I replied. That made a bit more sense.

"Why don't you join me in the arena for a bit?" Percy asked. "It'll be something to get our minds off of everything."

I glanced at my watch. It was only a little way into the afternoon, not that I had anywhere to go until I figured out what to do with myself.

"Sure," I said, standing up with the demigod, "why not?"

**Suzy's POV**

I ran as fast as I could through a strange black cloud.

Yes. First thing I do when I see something mysterious and unknown: I run at it head first. I was still wearing a tattered Grease Monkey outfit, but that didn't stop me from launching myself at this huge black mist with a heavy, metal wrench. Where had he gone? I thought. Arthur fell through the hole in the ground of the Gardens and...well, I'd been left behind _again._ Do you _know_ how frustrating that is?

Anyhow, running to the black mist was fun and all, but once I got to it, I just kept running. Right through it. I knew it was there for one reason or another and if it were for killing Pipers' Children, I would have been seriously _screwed_.

Suddenly, everything around me changed. It was cooler. It was night time. I couldn't see worth squat at first, but thankfully my eyes adjusted fast. There were trees...and rocks...it was strange...and _definitely_ not the House.

There were birds in the trees, bugs clicking and chirping everywhere, and lights. Lights coming from a _city_. I decided to head in the opposite direction of the city, seeing as anyone who saw me like this would judge harshly.

I charged through the trees and forest. If I ran for long enough, I would definitely run into something...maybe not something I'd particularly _want_ to run into, but something, anyway. I finally became so out of breath, I had to drop to my hands and knees for enough air to be captured. There was a hill and a tree. I smelled…strawberries? There was no telling where I was, but it was sure interesting. No place in the House was like this, I knew that for a fact. It didn't even have the completely perfect feel that I expected the Imperial Gardens to have. Honestly, there was only one real way to find out where I was.

I continued walking, hoping that there would be some sort of farm to go with all of the strawberries, which were slowly becoming visible around my feet. It never really occurred to me that I should be worried about getting back to the House, but, then again, there was a lot to distract me.

I approached the pine tree. There was something just _off_ about the thing. It was like every other pine tree to my eyes, but my head just got confused when I looked past it. It was like…some sort of sorcery was in the air. I know how cheesy and obviously dumb that sounds when I say it, but there was really no good way of describing it.

My lungs drew in a deep breath, then exhaled.

Might as well go say "hi" to the farmer.

**A/N: So I'm picking it back up again. Sorry for the nearly two-years' wait. Here goes nothing! There goes a Nithling!**


End file.
